On pop culture in schools...

Pop culture should be taught in school, because music, movies, and other forms of pop culture can be beneficial to a liberal education in various ways. Watching movies can help understand themes or concepts pertaining to many classes, such as science and history, and music lyrics can be used in English class. At Smith College, they offer a course specifically on popular culture in America over the last 150 years. In the description for the course, it states, “It starts from the premise that popular culture, far from being a frivolous or debased alternative to high culture, is in fact an important site of popular expression, social instruction, and cultural conflict, and thus deserves critical attention.” I think that just because teachers don’t like popular culture in our generation, it reflects our society and is important to learn about now, and will be even more important to look back on over the next century. People in my parents’ generation seem to think that the popular culture from when they were growing up was more wholesome and useful than today’s pop culture, but in an article from the New York Times, it says “Researchers are reporting today that first-person-shooter video games -- the kind that require players to kill or maim enemies or monsters that pop out of nowhere -- sharply improve visual attention skills. Experienced players of these games are 30 percent to 50 percent better than non-players at taking in everything that happens around them…in tasks as diverse as flying, driving, radiology and airport screening.”